Warren Hood and Leeann Atherton Saturday Barn JamMay 28, 2016

Warren Hood "The cream always rises to the top, and there are young performers out there who will find their audience [such as] Warren Hood, a terrific songwriter and singer." - Lyle Lovett

Warren Hood began playing the fiddle at the age of eleven. He attended Berklee School of Music where he was awarded the school's top honor - The String Achievement Award. He has since gone on to win numerous awards for string virtuosity and has been recognized three times as String Player of the Year in the Austin Chronicle Music Poll. The son of Austin, TX music legend, Champ Hood (Uncle Walt's Band, Toni Price), Warren has become an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and singer. He has toured extensively as a member of acclaimed Bay Area band The Waybacks (featured on NPR) who accompanied former Grateful Dead founder Bob Weir and as violinist for world-renowned recording artists, The BoDeans and Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll. He has also performed and/or recorded with such noteworthy artists as Lyle Lovett, Joan Osborne, Emmylou Harris, Ben Kweller, Little Feet, Elvis Costello, Susan Tedeschi, Gillian Welch, and Alejandro Escovedo.

"Hood has style to burn, with a knack for composing songs as ageless as they are pleasing to hear."- Margaret Moser, The Austin Chronicle

The self-titled debut album, The Warren Hood Band, was brilliantly produced by Charlie Sexton and 9 of the 11 songs were written/co-written by Warren, including the album's single "Alright" and the rockin', soulful "Where Have You Gone."

The Warren Hood Band is available for download on iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, and others as well as on CD in stores.

Leann AthertonLeeann Atherton’s voice is a force of nature, as electrifying and volatile as the weather in her hometown of Austin, Texas. She combines Bonnie Raitt’s grit, Billie Holiday’s understated soulfulness and her own exuberant spirit into a sound that’s equal parts honey and gunpowder. She’s able to shake your body and lift you up, while keeping your feet firmly anchored to the earth. Once, while playing on the porch of our cabin on the Buffalo River, I watched a beautiful black snake climb up on the railing, peeking over Leeann's shoulder, charmed, just to get a closer listen to her beautiful voice as rich, natural, fluid and enchanting as the river itself.

Barefoot Fields, her latest album, is an intimate collection of low-key torch songs. It’s the result of a year of recording with producer Rich Brotherton (Robert Earl Keen guitarist) at his home studio. “I wanted something that reminded me of my folky, hippie days,” the singer says. “It’s stripped down, laid back and cozy.” Atherton sang and played acoustic guitar on the album, while Brotherton added harmonies, guitar, bass, cittern, dobro, accordion and percussion to the songs, bringing them to vibrant life. “I like to lose myself in a song and working with Rich made that easy to do. His impeccable guitar playing melds well with my sense of melody. He’s a great singer and his ability to flesh out the harmonies brought out the best in the songs.”

Atherton is known for her powerful, larger than life vocals, imbuing every performance with a stirring passion. That fervor is evident on every track of Barefoot Fields, but it’s delivered with a controlled restraint that invites you to open your heart and get in touch with your deepest emotions. “Add It Up” is a jaunty love song with a relaxing honky-tonk groove and a jazzy, vocalese chorus that embeds itself in your mind after a single listen. Brotherton’s brief, bluesy country flavored solo and sparkling guitar and Atherton’s confident singing combine to express the breathless joy of infatuation and the excitement of new love. The humorous lyric, drawn from an exchange of text messages, uses mathematical language to describe the way love multiplies our emotions.

Ascending notes from Brotherton’s dobro and shimmering, golden acoustic guitar clusters blend with Atherton’s gospel flavored melismas to lift the spirit and generate a feeling of peace on “Mustard Seed.” It’s a song of quiet jubilation, written for an Easter performance at the Unity Church Atherton attends. The song’s message invites us to step out of the darkness of our individual pain and gaze at the world through the eyes of love.

The lilting waltz of “Robby & Mona” is the album’s most poignant melody; Brotherton’s bright cheerful cittern and Atherton’s acoustic exchange flirtatious rhythmic phrases, while her tender vocal expresses the burnished affection of long lasting love. “This song tells a story of reconnecting with your first love after a lifetime apart,” Atherton explains. “It’s the true story of a couple I met. They were teenage lovers and, when they met again 62 years later, they experienced the passion of true love all over again. It’s never too late for true love.”

“Love’s Creation,” a laid back country rocker highlighted by Brotherton’s crackling electric guitar, driving bass and propulsive drumming, sums up the Bible in three succinct verses that take you from the Big Bang to the Rapture. Atherton testifies with a joyful, lighthearted tone that makes you want to shout Amen! and Hallelujah!

The album’s ballads are full of deeply felt, simmering emotion. “Simple Heart” was co-written with the late Stan Penridge, who contributed to several hits by KISS, including “Beth.” It’s a jazzy, late night lament that floats along on a sea of humorous sailing language, with Brotherton adding muted Wes Montgomery-like electric guitar in the background. “Let it Shine” features Atherton’s sassy, smoldering vocals playing off Brotherton’s icy slide guitar fills to describe the meeting of Sweden’s snowless winter with heated affection. “Texas Soulful Shuffle” is a reflection of Atherton’s first introduction to the late Texas Poet-Laureate, Steven Fromholz, and their dance at the legendary “Antone’s”. Atherton and her guitar give a wistful lilt to “Where the Wildflowers Bloom,” a song that portrays the joys of walking through a springtime forest. It’s the song that gave birth to this collection of simple songs that were born in the quiet experiences of Atherton’s heart and soul.